Tomohiro Hata

The site is located in a typically developed area along the slopes of Kobe. The slope was scraped off, but the terrain still shows that character.Since the geographical condition has decided factors like wind direction, abundant sunlight, and vegetation, we thought it is important to conceive an architecture that receives and enjoys the natural environment such as daylighting and ventilation, and also give good effect to the ambience by making it a space composition close to the terrain.
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Moreover, we thought about how human beings will inhabit this architecture; which restores the environment with the slope including the surroundings. Hence, we aimed at a space where the client could literally “live on the slope”, where the inside harmoniously continues with the outside, while moving back and forth between the two.

In order to make these two elements compatible, we were faced with the issue of how to freely arrange the space across the floor, how to arbitrate the shift of the upper and lower floor.

We decided to lay down walls laminated with arches that successfully organizes the plan of shifting the structure between the upper and lower level, by receiving the force from above in a pyramidal shape.

Accordingly, the space composition changes from the front to the back, by connecting the walls like a Romanesque façade. This makes the architecture not resist the dynamics, but allow free space stacking.

Through the conception and practice of this architecture, we hope to show an example of a way to adopt the terrain with slopes and to embody the richness of living in slopes obediently.